Fanfic / Velocity

Velocity is a Justice League Unlimited Fan Fiction that is a Continuation of the series by Justice Reaper, a fellow Troper.

Set several years after the Season Finale of JLU, the story begins and takes place within the Central-Keystone area, where the Justice League is engaged in a battle with the Thinker, a member of the Flash's Rogues Gallery (and a background character in Gorilla Grodd's Legion of Doom during the series). They are victorious, naturally, but then they have to put up with the opposition of Hunter Zolomon, a cop who distrusts all meta-humans and costumed vigilantes. He expresses particular disdain for the Flash, who he sees as a one-man Spotlight-Stealing Squad who robs the local police force of the glory they rightfully deserve. That view is not helped by Flash's subsequent battles against the resident super-criminals, including a new villain who is both a walking tank and armed with razor-sharp weapons, with the speedster succeeding where the police end up failing.

Then Zolomon finds himself a victim of the exact same kind of accident that gave Flash his super-speed in the first place...and Goes Mad from the Revelation. It gets worse from there.

Meanwhile, the Justice League is investigating who has supplied the Thinker with an illegally-obtained chemical polymer that he used in his earlier battle with them. The trail leads to Amunet Black, a seemingly philanthropic businesswoman who's supplied the police with new armor to combat meta-human crimes...but evidently she's got much bigger aspirations...

Notable for introducing Zoom the Reverse-Flash and several other obscure members of Flash's Rogues Gallery into the DCAU timeline, with many a Shout-Out and Mythology Gag from the original DC Comics, and a couple of Continuity Nods from the DCAU itself.

Currently posted on Fanfiction.net, and the story is at 33 chapters and still ongoing, with 139 reviews on that site to date. Reviews there and on this site are welcome.

Velocity provides examples of:

• Absurdly Sharp Blade: Razer's armor has numerous sharp blades on its surface, and his gauntlets fire circular discs that can slice through steel.
• And Then What?: In Chapter 26, the Question basically deconstructs Zoom's plan to kill all super-powered beings in the world.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: When calling out the Justice League on TV, Zoom cites that Superman was possessed by Darkseid, Hawkgirl was a Thanagarian spy, and Flash... is annoying.
• Bash Brothers: Flash and Booster Gold, during the fight against Razer.
• Berserk Button: Do not mistake Zoom for Flash. Do not compare Zoom to Flash. Do not even hint at a comparison between Zoom and Flash. Zoom will react violently.
  • The Thinker does not like his failed lawyer career being brought up.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Flash.
• Big Bad: It's tied between Zoom and Amunet Black at this time.
• Big Eater: Flash, of course. Zoom, too, as a deliberate demonstration of Required Secondary Powers.
  • Razer, in Chapter 12.
• Butt-Monkey: Booster Gold.
• The Chessmaster: Amunet Black. Even when Zoom makes his villainous debut, she's not worried about his actions affecting her plans, but rather she's willing to integrate him into them as far as possible.
• Composite Character: Besides the obviousness of the DCAU Flash being Wally West with Barry Allen's profession, there's also Zoom, who is Hunter Zolomon in name and profession with powers more akin to Eobard Thawne (the second Reverse-Flash in the comics, where Zolomon's powers were time-based and not connected to the Speed Force).
• Continuity Nod: Several. These include, but are not limited to:
  • Booster's Butt-Monkey status in "The Greatest Story Never Told," followed by his fighting off of Darkseid's troops in "Destroyer," referenced by Booster himself as he bemoans his latest Butt-Monkey status.
  • The Justice Lord Flash android in "Divided We Fall," the memory of which is invoked by Flash's first meeting with Zoom.
  • Superman's fall from grace way back in the "Legacy" episode of his own series, used by Zoom as part of a "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
  • The Trickster ratting out his fellow villains in "Flash and Substance;" said villains seek him out for vengeance because of it.
  • The deaths of Shade and Weather Wizard in "Alive!" is discussed by Heatwave and the Trickster.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Several times, mostly instigated by Zoom. His first fight against the heroes qualifies, as in Chapter 25 he breaks Booster Gold's arm and punches Flash into a bruised pulp without slowing down.
• Damsel in Distress: Linda Park. A lot of the time.
• The Determinator: Flash.
• The Dragon: The Thinker becomes this to Amunet Black.
• Even the Girls Want Her: Amunet Black, based on Linda's initial reaction to her in Chapter 7.
• Evil Counterpart: Zoom to Flash.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Girder is a hulking brute of a man whose skin is solid steel following being thrown into a STAR Labs scrap vat. Razer wears armor covered in blades. The Top wields top-themed weaponry and utilizes top-based puns.
• Face–Heel Turn: Hunter Zolomon's transformation into Zoom.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: Hunter has a massive Freak Out upon discovering he's now become a meta-human—and with powers like Flash's, no less.
• Hollywood Atheist: Mr. Terrific, as revealed in Chapter 15. This is a Call-Back to his comic-book incarnation, where he's a noted atheist.
  Mr. Terrific: I don't believe in miracles...I believe in reason.
• Improbable Weapon User: Zoom can use ice-cubes as deadly projectiles.
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Despite the fact that the Trickster reminds him of the Monster Clown he lethally misjudged, even Zoom eventually concedes that he is one of these and (after beating up the other patrons of the Bad Guy Bar) gives him nothing more than a rap on the head and a warning to take his medication.
• Intrepid Reporter: Linda Park.
• Irrational Hatred: Hunter despises all costumed and/or superpowered beings, whether heroes or villains, and lumps them all in the same category - beings who can't be trusted and who have a hidden agenda of sorts. Where the heroes are concerned, he despises them because, according to him, they are glory-hounds who steal the thunder of the "real" heroes of society (police, firemen, etc.), and he especially hates the Flash because the city's residents shower the speedster with love while (he believes) leaving the regular security forces unappreciated. (Notably, this is a departure from the character's comic book persona, where he didn't have such a virulent hatred of meta-humans, though he did harbor an admittedly much more low-key resentment toward Wally West for different reasons.)
• The Juggernaut: Razer, and Girder to a lesser degree.
• Lightning Bruiser: Both Girder and Razer fall under this category.
• Major Injury Underreaction: In Chapter 16, Razer hits Booster Gold in the face with a police cruiser. Booster's response?
  Booster Gold: Great...my visor's cracked...
• Mythology Gag: Several references are made to the original The Flash comics, including:
  • One of the rogue profiles Hunter peruses belongs to Dr. Michael Amar, alias "Murmur." In the comics, Murmur is one of the newer rogues, a serial killer who hears voices and subsequently cuts out his victims' tongues and sews their mouths shut and later does it to himself to silence those voices.
  • One of the ways in which Zoom utilizes his new-found powers is to create sonic booms by snapping his fingers. He had this ability in the comics, although there his powers were more akin to making time stand still as opposed to moving at true super-speed.
  • Captain Cold's rivalry with Heatwave is referenced.
  • Hunter's Dark and Troubled Past from the comics is referenced, although with some minor details changed for this story. As of recent chapters, his ex-wife has made an appearance.
  • The name of Amunet Black's company, Blacksmith Corporation, is a small tribute to her comic-book criminal alias, although her ability in the comics to meld flesh with metal is absent here.
  • The Thinker's former job as a failed lawyer prior to his super-criminal career is brought up in Chapter 1.
  • At one point Zoom sarcastically refers to himself as "Professor Zoom," the canonical moniker of the other Reverse-Flash.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Razer.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Zoom delivers this all over the place, to heroes and villains alike.
• Oh, Crap!: Cobalt Blue has a brief moment of this when Superman shows up in Chapter 5...then again when Flash taps into the Speed Force.
  • Razer prompts this reaction from other people a lot.
• Power Parasite: Cobalt Blue, in this story, has the ability to temporarily drain another superhuman's powers and use them for himself (in the comics, he had the power to drain any Speed Force-powered speedster of their speed but couldn't use that speed himself).
• The Profiler: Hunter Zolomon's job prior to his Face–Heel Turn.
• The Real Heroes: Who Zoom claims to be fighting on behalf of; basically, his argument is that costumed heroes and super-powered beings get all the accolades for fighting super-powered menaces while the regular police, doctors, firefighters, etc., don't even get so much as a thank-you from the populace. Of course, it's largely him being The Resenter before his Face–Heel Turn and then being Ax-Crazy after it.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Zoom gives one to Flash in Chapter 24.
• The Resenter: Hunter to all super-powered beings and costumed vigilantes, prior to his own transformation.
  • Also, Booster Gold toward Green Lantern.
• Rogues Gallery: Flash's rogues, both those who were featured in the DCAU and those who weren't, take the villainous center-stage in this story. Listed below:
  • Zoom and Amunet Black as the two primary villains (albeit working separately), with the Thinker working as Black's Dragon in the latter half of the story.
  • Other villains who make an appearance: Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang, Mirror Master, the Trickster, Heatwave, Pied Piper, the Top, Rainbow Raider, Cobalt Blue, Magenta, Girder, and Razer (here as Amunet Black's hired muscle).
  • Villains who are referenced but not actually seen: Shade, Weather Wizard, and Murmur.
• Sadistic Choice: Zoom specializes in these.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: Wally and Linda deny that their meeting is a date. Likewise, Booster Gold and Dr. Light deny any attraction toward each other when Skeets brings it up.
• Ship Tease: Between Booster Gold and Dr. Light.
• Shout-Out: Zoom's Sadistic Choice to Flash is a nod to the final confrontation scene in the first Spider-Man movie.
  • When Flash first meets Razer in Chapter 16, he makes a comment about the other man's armor that's a clear nod to the Gillette razor commercials.
  Flash: All that water on that suit of yours...I know a certain razor company that's gonna sue you for copyright infringement.
• Split Personality: Hunter suffers this when he finds out he now has super-powers...he comes to the conclusion that Hunter Zolomon did die in the accident that granted him his powers, and that the person he is now simply has Hunter's body and memories.
• Steven Ulysses Perhero: Hunter Zolomon.
• That Man Is Dead:
  Zoom: Hunter Zolomon lives no more. Now, there is only me. ZOOM.
• This Is Gonna Suck: Said almost word-for-word by Flash during his fight with Razer in Chapter 16, upon realizing just how much protection Razer's armor gives him.
• Those Two Guys: Detectives Chyre and Morillo.
• Villain with Good Publicity: Amunet Black.
• Well Done Daughter Guy: Dr. Light's father, according to her back-story revelation in Chapter 13.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Hunter.